On October 6th, 1941, after many months of training, the ceremonial ‘nailing’ of the Bn flag took place, and on October 15th, 1941, the new Battalion flag was officially presented to the Finnisches Freiwilligen Bataillon der Waffen-SS during a ceremony at the Gross Born training grounds.Īfter the official ceremonies, the Bn left Gross Born on December 3rd, 1941, and was transferred to the Eastern Front on five rail transports, arriving at Vinnitsa on December 8th,1941. In August 1941, the Finnisches Freiwilligen Bataillon der Waffen-SS was moved to the troop training ground at Gross-Born, otherwise known as “Zum Truppenlager Gross Born.” A well-known image of the “Drie Grenadier” greeted all those that entered the troop training grounds at Gross Born. Finnish SSĪfter initial training at Wien, the Finnisches Freiwilligen Bataillon der Waffen-SS was transferred to Stralsund in July 1941. Jagerbataillon that served with the Kaiser’s forces on the Eastern front during the Great War. The Finns liked to refer to themselves as the “Jagerbataillon” (light infantry battalion) in commemoration of the Finnish 27. This first contingent of Finns was organized as the SS-Freiwilligen Bataillon Nordost, but the unit was later renamed in September of 1941, to the Finnisches Freiwilligen Bataillon der Waffen-SS. Fresh drafts of volunteers from Finland joined those at Wien to train as the Waffen-SS combat infantrymen.
The remaining 2 batches of Finnish recruits were those without previous military training and they were sent to Wien outside of Vienna to form the basis of the new Finnish Battalion. The first three batches of men were those with previous military training experience and they were directly incorporated into the 5.SS Wiking Division (mot) already on theEastern Front for the initial stages of the invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22nd, 1941. These conscripts were publicly announced as “workers for German Industry” to avoid international complications.īecause of minor differences, such as the Finnish objection to taking the Waffen-SS oath to the Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler – the bulk of the initial contingent of 125 Officers, 109 NCO’s, and 850 other ranks of Finnish soldiers were held up, and wouldn’t reach German soil until June 5, 1941.įive batches of Finns were sent to Germany between May and June 1941. In February 1941, Himmler’s Waffen-SS recruitment chief, Gottlob Berger, worked with the “Auslands-Amt” of the German Embassy in Helsinki to receive the first complement of 1000 Finnish volunteers into German service. In this sense, the Finns’ decision to pursue a pro-Axis stance in the early months of 1941, well before the onset of an actual German-Russo conflict would reflect both self-interest and an astute strategic grasp of their current geopolitical situation. There was also a stipulation made in a secret protocol by the Finnish government that no Finnish volunteers in the service of Germany would fight against Great Britain or Greece (this reflects the time-frame of the contract signing – Spring 1941 when the German incursion into the Balkans made these two governments the only active combatants against Germany) or any other nation, “except the Soviet Union.”Ĭlearly, the Finns wanted to respect the differences that western governments, (who had been generously forthcoming with critical military and logistical aid during the winter-war), had with Germany but at the same time, wanted to align a major continental power in their corner against the threat of further Soviet hostilities.
The Post-1943 Italian Fascist Forces of WWII Subsequently, every effort was made to disguise the enrollment of active-duty Finnish soldiers and other volunteers into the ranks of the Waffen-SS. While the Finns were open to such a suggestion, both parties were quite aware that any open recruitment into Germany’s armed forces of Finnish soldiers and citizens would certainly, be interpreted as a belligerent provocation by the Soviets. Because of their well-proven fighting qualities, Reichsfuhrer-SS Himmler expressed interest in having a Finnish contingent become a part of his growing Waffen-SS. The story of Finnish volunteers in the service of the Third Reich began with a series of behind the scenes diplomatic negotiations between Germany and Finland at the post-March 1940 negotiated end of her “ Winter War” with the Soviet Union.
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